One or two daily drinks ‘raises the risk of stroke by up to 15%’

HAVING just one or two alcoholic drinks a night significantly increases the risk of suffering a stroke in later life, a major study says.

Experts from Oxford University said their study of 500,000 people finally dispels the ‘myth’ that light drinking protects health.

They found that one or two drinks a day increased the risk of suffering a stroke in the next ten years by 10 to 15 per cent, and four drinks a day by 35 per cent.

For years experts have argued that consuming alcohol moderately reduced the risk of heart attacks and strokes. But critics argue those studies were flawed – as subjects included alcoholics who have become tee-total or those who did not drink due to other health issues. The new study, published in the Lancet medical journal, got around this by using a study of Chinese people – a third of whom carry a genetic quirk meaning they can’t tolerate alcohol. It meant data on the non-drinking test group was far more reliable.

Study leader Professor Zhengming Chen, from the Clinical Trial Service Unit at Oxford University, concluded: ‘Even moderate alcohol consumption increases the chances of having a stroke.’